I've been trying this tv with backlight set to min, which I never thought I'd do. But it seems to give the cleanest picture and best detail.

I too have recently adjusted the backlight down to 1 or Minimal and think the picture quality has improved because of it. I keep my Brightness set to 52 also. From my experience, brighter backlight seems to be better for brighter rooms.

As for those who are having problems with this set now (blue light streaks, flashing lights) sorry to hear. Not all of these models suffer from those problems. I've had mine for 3 years and counting, no issues (knock on wood).

As for deleting favorites, this is what I found in the user manual, but don't think you can pick which ones you want deleted, just deletes the oldest one:

Add to Favorites, then press *. Your newly
added item will be listed at the top of the list.When you continue to add items beyond the
10th item, the item listed at the bottom of the
list will be automatically removed from the
list.

Long time no talk my fellow EX500 owners. My 46 has been nothing short of amazing when it comes to HD content and playing xbox. However I am back in the market for another 46" set but I dont know where to begin. I want a tv thats going to be atleast on par with the ex500 in terms of pq and features. What do you guys recommended?

So no activity in a bit but I need some advice. I have used a lower sharpness on my 360 and ps3 for a while, around 6/30. But now for any 1080p native game(aka ps4) I feel I need to turn my sharpness up to halfway, and it looks super amazing. Back at 720p stuff I gotta redown it. Is this normal? I always turned up blurays. Sl this doesn't surprise me too much.

I would appreciate your help regarding some data that I need about KDL-32EX500 , equipped with the Bravia Engine 3 ; data that I need for proper configuration of soft I use with the HTPC that I've connected via HDMI to it , and I'm not able to find or confirm :

~~nobody can help me?? ............. I have configured ATI catalyst full RGB 4:4:4 and 0-255 in dynamic range, also I have 0-255 in madVR as dynamic range but unconfirmed if my TV natively supports not know if this configuration is correct.

~~nobody can help me?? ............. I have configured ATI catalyst full RGB 4:4:4 and 0-255 in dynamic range, also I have 0-255 in madVR as dynamic range but unconfirmed if my TV natively supports not know if this configuration is correct.

I don't see an option in the manual to select between Video Levels (16-235) and PC Levels (0-255), but if the TV is stuck using the video standard 16-235, it will crush your PC's blacks. If this is happening and you play the AVS HD 709 Black Clipping pattern, you wouldn't see the bars 16-25 without cranking Brightness up hugely. If you use a paint program to view an image containing black bars RGB 0, 1, 2, ..., you wouldn't see the ones below 16 without cranking Brightness up hugely. If there's no way to set the TV to PC Levels, you need to configure the PC for Video Levels. I think that unlike Nvidia, ATI can compress the desktop, so the desktop will look more correct, not that it's unusable when output at 0-255. That's actually the way I run my HTPC with an Nvidia card, and despite blacks being crushed on the desktop, there is no problem using the UI for programs like WMC and XBMC, configuring the PC, reading web pages, etc.

are there any known reliability issues with this line? I bought my mom a kdl-40ex501 (man. date june 2010) about 3 years ago and just the other day she said it didn't work. I went over to check it out and it was completely dead. no little read standby light, and no response at all. it would not power up at all. is there any kind of reset switch or breaker or anything? it doesn't get much use and its just a few years old. I have a hard time believing she wore it out already. I'm hoping theres an easy fix before I'm out of pocket for another new tv for mom. I already laid the groundwork to convince her that "its still under warranty" for a replacement, although I know its coming out of my pocket if indeed it requires replacement.

are there any known reliability issues with this line? I bought my mom a kdl-40ex501 (man. date june 2010) about 3 years ago and just the other day she said it didn't work. I went over to check it out and it was completely dead. no little read standby light, and no response at all. it would not power up at all. is there any kind of reset switch or breaker or anything? it doesn't get much use and its just a few years old. I have a hard time believing she wore it out already. I'm hoping theres an easy fix before I'm out of pocket for another new tv for mom. I already laid the groundwork to convince her that "its still under warranty" for a replacement, although I know its coming out of my pocket if indeed it requires replacement.

The only recourse is to have a professional look at the TV. I don't believe we are capable of diagnosing a TV over the internet without specifics. As far as any "known reliability issues" I can safely say there are none outside of the usual but rare lemons that people have encountered early in this thread. My TV is just as reliable as the day I bought it. If there were glaring issues with reliability this thread would have covered it.

are there any known reliability issues with this line? I bought my mom a kdl-40ex501 (man. date june 2010) about 3 years ago and just the other day she said it didn't work. I went over to check it out and it was completely dead. no little read standby light, and no response at all. it would not power up at all. is there any kind of reset switch or breaker or anything? it doesn't get much use and its just a few years old. I have a hard time believing she wore it out already. I'm hoping theres an easy fix before I'm out of pocket for another new tv for mom. I already laid the groundwork to convince her that "its still under warranty" for a replacement, although I know its coming out of my pocket if indeed it requires replacement.

The same thing happened to my mom's 46EX500 about six months after she bought it. Sony replaced the power board under warranty. I was there when the tech fixed it, and it was a simple board swap, an easy DYI assuming (a) this is the actual problem, and (b) you are able to find a working board through shopjimmy.com, ebay, etc, as opposed to a board that was harvested from a dead TV that died due to that board. You also need to be sure you're getting the right board based on TV model and serial numbers or manufacturing date; Sony is known to use different boards for different serial number ranges, and you can't just look at the big number silkscreened onto the board, because it can be the same across the whole range.

I've recently had major issues with my KDL46EX500. I've had this TV for about 3 years and in the last year it hasn't been used that much. Initially I was having a program with the volume going to 255 and being unable to lower it with either the remote or controls on the side of the TV. I would have to reset the settings on the TV in order for the volume to return to a normal level and able to change it with the remote or side control. Later the picture started to changed to a fuschia/pink tint.

It was not a case of the settings as using the setting like vivid or others would still give the fuschia/pink colour to mostly whites. One day the TV eventually would not turn on. The red standby light would be on and when the TV is turned on the green light would come on but no picture and no Sony logo and tone. Also, along with the black screen, the TV will not turn off by either the remote or side control on the TV and the only way to turn the TV off is to pull the plug.

I did some research and thought the original problem with the fuschia/pink colour was due to a faulty main board, which I decided to swap out but did not correct the problem with the TV turning on and no picture or sound.

Has anyone heard of a similar issue with this TV? I'm guessing the issue might be the TCON possibly a fuse as the panel does not light up at all.

Next month will be 5 years with my 46EX501.
I really love it with only one quibble, the sound leaves a little to be desired but routing it to the audio receiver solves that problem. I still am amazed at the terrific picture.

I'd love to keep it till year 10 (especially since I recently wall-mounted it...LOTS of work.